History-Temuka

The Sisters first came to New Zealand at a time when the Congregation was facing crisis and Mary MacKillop had been ordered by Bishop Reynolds to leave Adelaide. She went to Sydney and stayed there separated from her South Australian Sisters and endeavouring to attend to the business of the Order from a distance.

In 1883 three Sisters, Calasanctius Howley, Raymond Smyth and Immaculata Punyer travelled overland from Adelaide to Melbourne and then by steamer for Lyttleton before boarding the train for Temuka, a rural town in South Canterbury. They had said goodbye to Mary MacKillop by letter and kept in constant contact with her from their new home, their letters crossing the Tasman on the steamers.

The Josephites had been invited to Temuka by the Marist priest, Louis Fauvel, who had learned about the Sisters from Father Julian Woods whom he had met in 1873 while recuperating from missionary work in Fiji. When Fauvel was sent to Temuka in 1876, he wasted no time before asking Mary MacKillop for Sisters to set up a school for the children from the farms in his parish. He had a long wait and as the years passed he sent a picture of St Joseph to Mary saying that it should only return when accompanied by Sisters.

When the Sisters finally arrived Fauvel wrote to Mary:

“Thanks be to God, St Joseph has overcome all difficulties, and has brought me three good Sisters. They have made a very good impression on the parishioners. I firmly believe they are destined to do a great deal of good in this parish. You may depend on my taking care of them here. As to the temporals, I will not let them suffer for any want; if it were ever required I would most joyfully divide my last crumb of bread with them. As to the spiritual, I will always fight for the observance of their Rules.”

The Sisters opened St Joseph’s School with 90 pupils on Monday 12th November 1883.

In the new year Calasanctius wrote to Mary:

“We have 96 children enrolled, only two of whom were Protestant. Next week we shall have many more. It is one of the best schools I have been in, very nice girls of 15 and 16 who would be splendid teaching Sisters by and bye if well instructed.”

Immaculata was equally enthusiastic about the students:

“We have a good school here. They are all such dear children. Fancy, we have one boy 19 years of age. He lost his right arm, so he came to learn to write with his left.”

Even as they wrote two young women from the district, Catherine Fitzpatrick and Mary Anne Goodwin, asked to join the Sisters and were named Sister Clara and Sister Bernadette. They helped in the school until other Sisters arrived from Australia to take their places so that they could go to Sydney for their novitiate training.

These two were the first of many young women who joined the Sisters in Temuka. Catherine Elkis joined in 1886 as Sister Cyril and was later elected to the position of Superior General of the Congregation.